Sociology Of Science Research Articles

From Value to Valuation: Pragmatist and Hermeneutic Orientations\xa0for Assessing Science on the International Space Station

Based on a study of the International Space Station (ISS), this paper argues that – as a set of orientations for sociological inquiry – pragmatism and hermeneutics are confluent frameworks to examine valuation as a social process. This confluence is grounded on their common attunement to valuing as a problematic and relational process, their equally common updates with theories of institutions, and a further conceptual development regarding the temporalities of valuation. I advance the argument in four steps. First, looking at how the question about the “scientific value” of the ISS is far from settled, I show how valuation is always about something considered problematic and indeterminate. Second, characterizing the ISS at the intersection of different criteria of assessment, I stress the nature of valuation as a fundamentally perspectival and interpretive process, and show how a hermeneutic approach can complement some of the limitations of pragmatism in this regard. Third, I look at the question of institutions considering how some modes of assessment sediment more successfully than others. Fourth, I argue that, while providing insights towards it, pragmatist and hermeneutic approaches to valuation have not fully grasped its temporal nature as a process, and outline ways to open this line of inquiry. I conclude with some ideas for studies in sociology of science to re-entangle detailed case studies of scientific practice with the study of how institutions make claims of worth about the nature of science, I propose ways to extend these arguments to other studies of what I call iridescent institutions, and I make some considerations about our stance as sociologists in these valuation disputes.

Improving Knowledge about Risks Related to Alpine Sports: A Collaborative Laboratory on Accidentology

The risks associated with the practice of alpine sports are a major concern in mountain environments. Quantifying and explaining the causes of accidents are key to improving knowledge about this sensitive issue. To this end, since 2015, the Laboratory of Vulnerabilities and Innovation in Sport (L-VIS) has been participating in collaborative action research in France involving parties from several spheres: the Petzl Foundation (Petzl is a French climbing and caving equipment company), the online community Camptocamp (aimed at those who practice mountain sports), stakeholders from the public sector (mountain rescue services and the National Observatory of Mountain Safety, SNOSM) and the non-profit sector (sports federations), and professionals (guide organizations). At the end of 2015, this collaborative project resulted in the launch of an online system to collect participatory testimonials on accidents and incidents occurring during the practice of mountain sports: the SERAC database. The development, implementation and growing interest of multiple stakeholders regarding this collaborative approach to sharing experiences mark it as an innovative way to understand and optimize alpine accidentology. Seen through the lens of the sociology of science and technology, the process of social innovation the SERAC database represents is a form of knowledge production that links researchers, communities of alpine sports practitioners and their sporting culture, the alpine environments where they are practiced, and specific safety agencies. This article describes the creation, socialization and evolution of the research project associated with the SERAC database, highlighting the hybrid and uncertain nature of the knowledge produced and how it is inextricably linked with the mountain environment. At its source, the SERAC project has two complementary but also divergent aims: that of collaborative action research to support social innovation, and the production of contextualized knowledge that can ideally be translated into accident prevention recommendations and a better understanding of risky alpine practices.

Sub-disciplining science in sociology: Bridges and barriers between environmental STS and environmental sociology

ABSTRACT It is inarguable that the natural sciences, from chemistry to ecology, are indispensable if sociologists are to address environmental change. Nevertheless, it remains unclear how, exactly, sociologists incorporate natural science into their work. In other words, what might a sociologist mean if they say that natural science is a vital part of their research? Here we examine this question through a comparative history of environmental science and technology studies (eSTS) and environmental sociology (ES), arguably the two sociological subdisciplines to which the inclusion of natural science is most important. Our results show a complicated picture, one in which eSTS and ES, at times, influence one another’s approach to natural science, yet at most other times diverge completely. In the first half of our analysis we detail how they have diverged, showing how most eSTS scholars have treated natural science as an object of analysis while most ES scholars, in turn, have treated natural science as a resource for analysis. Then, in the second half, we discuss where and how they have converged, focusing on three shared concerns: ignorance, democratizing environmental knowledge, and postcolonial epistemologies.

An enhanced evolutionary approach for solving the community detection problem

ABSTRACT Community detection concepts can be encountered in many disciplines such as sociology, biology, and computer science, etc. Nowadays, a huge amount of data is produced by digital social networks and needs to be processed. In fact, the analysis of this data makes it possible to extract new knowledge about groups of individuals, their communication modes, and orientations. This knowledge can be exploited in marketing, security, Web usage, and many other decisional purposes. Community detection problem (CDP) is NP-hard and many algorithms have been designed to solve it but not to a satisfactory level. In this paper, we propose a hybrid heuristic approach based on a combination of genetic algorithms and tabu search that does not need any prior knowledge about the number or the size of each community to tackle the CDP. The method is efficient because it uses an enhanced encoding, which excludes redundant chromosomes while performing genetic operations. This approach is evaluated on a wide range of real-world networks. The result of experiments shows that the proposed algorithm outperforms many other algorithms according to the modularity measure.

Impact of Knowledge of Natural Sciences on ENEM Performance: Considerations about Scientific and Technological Inequality to Social Justice

This paper sets out from the perspective sociology of education and sociology of science, aiming: analyze the performance of students in nature sciences compared to other areas of knowledge in the National High School Exam; analyze the performance of candidates from public schools and private schools; present preliminary considerations that indicate how the presence of scientific laboratories in schools show some evidence of improvement in performance. The debate goes through by mobilizing the concept of scientific inequality and cultural goodwill to propose an interpretation of data that allows a comparison between the performance in natural sciences of students from several school systems by comparative analysis among public and private schools. The data selection it reports on the microdata of the National High School Exam (ENEM) — 2017 edition — which was investigated the results of students from the final year (senior year) who scores between 600 and 1000 points in natural sciences in order to compare these results with other areas of knowledge. The data show that students from public schools have proportionally more significant performance (between fields of knowledge) in hard sciences (and writing) than students from private schools. In addition, it is found in this range of score of the analysis a disproportion of representativeness of students from public schools on objection of private ones that can be interpreted as a marked characteristic of social and educational inequality in the country.

Distributed cognitive activity as the basis of digital intellectual production: possibilities of hypertext interpretation

The analysis of the key agents for the formation of patriotic practices in youth and the nature of their influence on young people as subjects of patriotic activity is of considerable interest to sociological science and practice which determines the purpose of this work in the specified format. The methodological basis of the study is formed by the provisions of the activity paradigm, The article also uses the results of a large-scale sociological survey conducted as part of the research project “Civic patriotism in the formation and development of solidaristic practices in the south of Russia: resource potential and conditions for its implementation”. The study concludes that one of the reasons for little involvement of south-Russian youth in patriotic activity is that the patriotic ideas translated at the level of patriotic value formation by such agents as family, educational institutions, government agencies, and the media diverge from the youth’s orientation on the content of patriotic practices involving different agents and institutes.

Vivat universitas! 100 years of institutionalisation of sociology at the Belarusian State University

The article identifies three stages in the development of sociology at BSU, reveals their content and features. It is argued that the institutionalisation of sociology on the territory of Belarus began with the opening of the Belarusian State University and the creation of the department of sociology and primitive culture, where students were given lectures on genetic sociology, issues of labour, law, cultural history, and sociology of family and marriage. After the identification of historical materialism with sociology, the teaching of sociological disciplines was excluded from the curricula of BSU. Sociology revived in the 1960s with the creation of the Problematic Research Laboratory of Sociological Studies at the BSU. In its depths, as well as in the sector of applied sociology at the department of philosophy of the humanities faculties, personnel were trained and the necessary conditions were created for the opening of the section of sociology and the department of sociology in 1989. Professor G. P. Davidyuk is rightfully considered to be the founder of modern Belarusian sociology. Currently, at BSU, centuries-old traditions in the field of sociological science and education are being developed at the Center for Sociological and Political Researches and at the department of sociology of the faculty of philosophy and social sciences. It is concluded that BSU is one of the leading universities in the post-Soviet space and it possesses everything necessary for its further development. Sociological science and scientific schools are actively developing at BSU. The university staff includes well-known specialists who provide the training of highly qualified personnel with competences to work in conditions of global instability and readiness to give an adequate respond to the new challenges of the time.

Концепция urban health в конструировании рекреационных пространств крупных городов: тенденции и перспективы

Objective of the study is to analyze the significance of the “urban health” concept in the construction of recreational space in the metropolis, taking into account the changes caused by the pandemic. The  methodological  basis  of  the  research includes the ideas and provisions of the sociology of the city, the sociology of leisure, the theory of urbanization, including the concept of new urbanism. The methodology of constructivism is used as the basic one; the recreational space of the city is considered as a part of social space, constructed by the interaction of actors (rekreants and recreators). Research results. The article presents new trends in the construction of recreational space in the metropolis, taking into account the changes caused by the pandemic; the key principles of the “urban health” concept are considered; the prospects to include the ideas of the “urban health” concept in the construction of recreational space in the metropolis are outlined.   Prospects of the study.  Special research aimed at the identifying the specific recreational practices in the particular cities and the results of the implementation of the “urban health” projects in Russia and abroad shapes the promising trend within the framework of sociological science. This will result in the identification of successful practices and the possibilities of its implementation in management strategies in other cities.  

СПОРТИВНО-ОЗДОРОВИТЕЛЬНАЯ ДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТЬ МОЛОДЕЖИ КАК ПРЕДМЕТ НАУЧНОГО ДИСКУРСА

Objective of the study is to consider the essence and main content of sports and recreational activities, to determine its recreational potential and factors affecting the formation of the needs of young people in the implementation of sports and recreational activities.   The methodological basis of the research of the study was made up of the provisions of the structural-functional, activity and institutional approaches, which allowed the author to determine the essential characteristics and main functions of sports and recreation activities, to consider its recreational potential in combination with factors affecting the formation of the needs of young people in the implementation of this activity. Research results. The article shows that sports and recreation activities represent activities that are aimed at strengthening the health of individuals involved in it, increasing their level of efficiency, improving physical and spiritual qualities. Sports and recreation activities play an important role in a person's life, contributing to the harmonious development of the individual, being an important incentive for his physical and spiritual development, the formation of resistance to the perception of stressful situations caused by environmental factors. At the same time, the level of involvement in sports and recreation activities is influenced by internal and external factors. If external factors do not depend on individuals and social groups and are primarily related to the infrastructure for sports and recreation activities, then internal factors primarily include the personal characteristics of young people, their values and orientations aimed at sports and recreation activities. Prospects of the study. The problems related to the essence and main content of sports and recreation activities, its recreational potential and factors affecting the formation of the need for the implementation of sports and recreation activities are of great interest for modern Russian sociological science. For this reason, the author of the publication plans to carry out a more thorough analysis of the factors influencing the formation of the needs of representatives of modern Russian youth in the implementation of sports and recreation activities, to study the nature and main content of this activity and the optimal ways and means to increase its importance in the structure of youth recreation in our country.

Social inequality and youth: key trends of 2020

The paper deals with the analysis of one of the most important and always relevant social phenomena called social inequality, which is viewed through the prism of youth ideas about the forms of its manifestation and features. +e authors present the results of a sociological study aimed at identifying the attitude of modern Russian youth to the problem of social inequality in general, as well as the diversification of its forms in the modern world and in Russia. +e study was conducted in 2020 by professors of the Sociological Faculty of Lomonosov Moscow State University under the direction of Doctor of Sociological Sciences Professor N.G. Osipova and Doctor of Sociological Sciences, Professor S.O. Elishev with the financial support of the RFBR, within the framework of the project No. 18-011-01106 “New forms of social inequality and the peculiarities of their manifestation in modern Russia”. In the course of the study in the summer of 2020, 628 young people (aged 16 to 30) from different regions of Russia were interviewed using the online questionnaire survey method. +e distribution of respondents by gender and occupation corresponds to the parameters of graduates of humanitarian universities. 28% of young people surveyed were males, and 72% were females. 9% of the respondents were young people aged 20 to 24 years, 24,84% — from 16 to 19 years old, 12,26% — from 25 to 30 years old. +e research methodology (which is based on the questionnaire) was in many ways similar to the methodology used by the authors in 2019 to analyze the value orientations and perceptions of student youth in Moscow universities. +is methodology was supplemented with new blocks of questions related to the peculiarities and specifics of the manifestation in Russia of such relatively new forms of social inequality as digital divide and inequality in health. +e questions to which the answers were received were of both general and specific nature and, in general, reflected the key trends in the attitude of young people to the problem of social inequality in the conditions of the complex social situation that developed in 2020 in all respects. A detailed analysis of the answers to the questions presented in the questionnaire showed that, although social inequality is recognized by modern Russian youth as an urgent social problem, it does not occupy a key place among the topical problems for Russian youth.

Этика науки: классические нормы и современные деформации

The article discusses the problems of the professional ethos of science genesis and its transformation in the context of modern realities. There is a brief description of the classical norms of the scientific ethos (universalism, communalism, disinterestedness and organized skepticism), formulated by R. Merton in the late 1930s and early 1940s, in response to the sharp exacerbation of the problem of science’s autonomy in the conditions of totalitarian regimes. The key idea of Merton is especially emphasized: compliance with the norms is aimed primarily at optimizing the process of scientific production and, thereby, the most effective solution to the main goal of science – the increasing of certified knowledge volume. The concept of the ethical imperatives of a scientific profession was almost immediately criticized for being ‘idealistic’ and ‘disconnected from real life’, and by the end of the 1960s it intensified many times over. You can find the examples of critical attitude to the concept of Merton, also we described the alternative versions of the norms of scientific ethos (in the interpretation of Mitroff and Fuller). It has been established that under the conditions of academic capitalism, which implies the incorporation of market culture into the system of scientific research, a negative deformation of classical norms occurs, in practice creating barriers to the production of knowledge and disrupting the practice of communication within the scientific community. The result of this deformation is the system of relationships between scientists, described by Ziman in the framework of the concept of ‘post-academic science’. Evidence is presented that the process of degradation of norms is further intensified in the conditions of cognitive capitalism and neoliberal science. Using the example of modern Russian science, the author shows that the result of such degradation is, for example, the exacerbation of the problem of plagiarism. Methods of counteracting such practice are briefly described using the example of modern Russian science, such as the creation of a Dissernet community or a special commission to counteract falsification of scientific research within the framework of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In a theoretical sense, in the context of the philosophy and sociology of science, the concept of ‘two ethics’ proposed by B. Pruzhinin, looks productive. B. Pruzhinin singles out the specific ethos of fundamental and applied science.

Security as a need and a human right

Security is a concept defined by various aspects. It depends on the terminology applied in a particular science field. It is differently specified in terms of science branches related with psychology, philosophy or sociology. Security is also defined in another way in the security science. It is specified, inter alia, as a state, a process, a good, a need or a value. However, the aim of this paper is to define security as a need and a human right. That is why below we make an attempt to answer the following questions: Can security be defined as a need and a human right? If so, who is their guarantor?

The main agents of the formation of patriotic practices among youth in southern Russia (based on the results of sociological surveys)

The analysis of the key agents for the formation of patriotic practices in youth and the nature of their influence on young people as subjects of patriotic activity is of considerable interest to sociological science and practice which determines the purpose of this work in the specified format. The methodological basis of the study is formed by the provisions of the activity paradigm, The article also uses the results of a large-scale sociological survey conducted as part of the research project “Civic patriotism in the formation and development of solidaristic practices in the south of Russia: resource potential and conditions for its implementation”. The study concludes that one of the reasons for little involvement of south-Russian youth in patriotic activity is that the patriotic ideas translated at the level of patriotic value formation by such agents as family, educational institutions, government agencies, and the media diverge from the youth’s orientation on the content of patriotic practices involving different agents and institutes.

Relevance of historical studies and achievements of archipelago civilization progress: a study of sociological perspectives of Indonesian

This historical study aims to see how history is relevant to the achievements of the progress of the civilization of the archipelago through the study of sociological science. For this reason, we have searched literature from several well-known journals. Next, we analyzed the literature to find data that could answer the questions of this study as much as possible. The data study starts with a coding system study and a specific evaluation to answer study questions with high validity elements. The journals we have visited include Google Books, Elsevier, Academic docs, and other publishers published ten years ago. Based on the discussion data, we can conclude that there is a very close relevance between the history of the Indonesian nation and the progress of civilization in the archipelago, which is now dominated by the influence of Islamic civilization and westernization. We hope this finding is helpful for future studies of Indonesian historical literature and civilization.

Aspects of Semantics in Global Business: The Nigerian Example in the Knowledge Era

The knowledge economy highlights opinions on economics, management, law, sociology, anthropology, psychology, and political science. However, these opinions exclude language and linguistics which are the foundations for any knowledge. Meaning remains pivotal and fundamental in issues of language and communication hence the need to situate a robust study in semantics.

Fisheries knowledge exchange and mobilization through a network of policy and practice actors

Conservation researchers have been shown to be motivated by the application of their work to address real world problems. However, a significant number of recent studies in the sociology of science and related fields such as knowledge exchange and knowledge mobilization have shown that direct influence of conservation science on policy and practice is rare. To improve conservation science uptake, we need a better understanding of how knowledge mediation and interpretation by potential knowledge users actually happens. This article examines qualitative data from a set of 65 interviews with government staff and other stakeholders and rights holders involved with rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) management in British Columbia, Canada. The focus of the investigation is on the ways that scientific knowledge moves through this network of actors. We approach knowledge exchange and mobilization as a social and political process. Our analysis makes use of the concept of knowledge mediation spaces as the specific settings in which actors deliberate and make sense of multiple forms of knowledge and competing social interests. Four knowledge mediation spaces were identified in the case study: sharing expertise and best practices, consultation on policy direction, program delivery, and research partnerships. Sharing of knowledge among actors in this network was found to be influenced by the movement of individuals from one organization to another throughout their careers. We also found that there is frequent interaction among actors for problem solving and seeking expert advice and that scientific methods strongly inform the actions of fisheries actors; yet science does not always play a role in policy formation. We recommend researchers place more emphasis on engaging stakeholders and Indigenous rights holders more directly in order to inform their research agendas and to facilitate more direct pathways for knowledge exchange, and by extension impacts on management and conservation.

Behind the scenes of science in action: a ‘replication in context’ of a randomised control trial in Morocco

This article is a ‘replication in context’ of a flagship randomised control trial (RCT) conducted in Morocco on microcredit. ‘Replication in context’ consists in combining the quantitative replication of an RCT with a contextualised analysis of its implementation and its political economy, in the sense of the interplay between different stakeholders with divergent and potentially conflicting interests, constraints and powers. ‘Replication in context’ draws on quantitative and qualitative data and uses the tools of statistics, political economy and sociology of science. This method allows us to describe the entire RCT production chain, from sampling, data collection, data entry and recoding, estimates and interpretations to publication and dissemination of the results. We find that this particular RCT does not respect the key principles of randomisation (imbalanced sampling and contamination) nor those of statistics (coding and measurement problems, poor-quality data and arbitrary trimming procedures). The qualitative analysis highlights the difficulties of implementing a randomised protocol in the real world. Beyond this particular case study, our analyses call into question the supposed superiority of randomised methods, echoing the growing unease in an academic field increasingly struggling to enforce the basic rules of ethics and scientific deontology.

Book Review: Pioneers of Sociological Science: Statistical Foundations and the Theory of Action

Book Review: Pioneers of Sociological Science: Statistical Foundations and the Theory of Action

Research on the Ideological and Political Education of College Physics under the Background of “Emerging Engineering Education”

Under the background of “Emerging engineering Education”, college physics, as a basic course of science and engineering, has a wide range of courses and a large number of students. Therefore, the content of ideological and political education in college physics teaching has a wide audience, and the material of physics development history is very rich. This paper expounds the infiltration of ideological and political education in College Physics teaching from three aspects: The history of scientific development, philosophy of science and sociology of science. Realize the whole process and all- round education during college physics teaching. In the process of imparting knowledge, we should emphasize the education of the mainstream value, scientific literacy, ideals and beliefs, and conduct virtue education.

Construction of a Review About Epigenetics for Biology Teachers and Other Non-experts

Epigenetics, the new research field at the cutting edge of biology research, needs to be introduced in biology education. The aim of this review is to support biology teachers and other non-experts to get an overview of the field, as a review in epigenetics has hardly been written for these groups. This review was done by finding documents describing central features of epigenetics, increasing the understanding of epigenetics’ contribution to perspectives in society, and to be a model for a review in a rapidly developing science field. As an example of societal perspectives, the old dispute about “nature” or “nurture” is discussed, epigenetics focusing on the role of “nurture’s” influence on “nature.” Consequently, epigenetics dispels biological determinism. As this review was intended to fill a gap in the literature, a theoretical framework for the construction of the review had to be invented. This was done in an iterative process during the construction of the review. Documents were searched for in the databases of ERIC, Scopus, and Web of Science, peer-reviewed, and had been published by a well-renowned publisher. The search time frame was January 2016 to December 2019, including document types books and book chapters, plus journal articles for ERIC; documents had to be written in English and published as open access. Searches were divided into pre-defined categories based on a newly performed Delphi study. Exemplar studies, which best described each category, are discussed in the light of frontline research. As implications from epigenetics are important for a variety of areas within society, the review is a contribution to the field of sociology of science, aiming to support science education at the very front of science.